Our Philosophy

The staff at House of Dwarfs are committed to creating a warm and inviting atmosphere in which children and their families feel at home. We expect to work in partnership with the families in our care to create surroundings that reflect each and everyone’s culture and beliefs. We value family input and participation in developing the environment materials and planning of our centre. We strive to create an environment that promotes inquisitiveness in all realms of development.

We teach the children communication skills which will assist them in problem solving. We teach them how to assess problems between each other and create solutions to any difficulties. We believe in fair and non-physical methods to solve a conflict. Our goal is to develop self-confidence, self-control, and sensitivity in the children’s interactions with others.

Our staff agree that the best strategy for child learning is through play. Real play is essential to a child’s development. We believe very strongly that children increase their knowledge and understanding through the manipulation of materials and participation in activities. We also believe that it is through play that children set up a foundation for skills such as reading and math that are required in school. We also think that play is a valuable tool for children to learn social skills.

At the House of Dwarfs we believe in creating a child-centered curriculum where there are periods of time when a child can engage in continuous self-initiated play. This allows the child to plan their play and complete his/her activities. The staff observes and records the children’s interests and then provide materials and activities that reflect those interests.

We believe that the role of our staff is to determine each child’s developmental level and to incorporate activities into the curriculum that will encourage growth of every child’s social, emotional, physical, creative and intellectual development – through a play-based environment. We conduct ongoing assessments of every child’s development and needs.